Icon: enlarge
AstraZeneca vaccine: enormous demand, stagnant production
Photo: DADO RUVIC / REUTERS
The EU and the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca have been arguing bitterly for days about the delivery of corona vaccine, apparently because production in the vaccine factory of the important supplier Novasep in Belgium is stalling.
An even greater distribution of production among other regional pharmaceutical companies may be a way out of the dilemma: A plan from Japan is now betting on it in the global vaccination race.
The government in Tokyo announced that 90 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine will be produced in its own country - with the involvement of local manufacturers.
The concerns about the production problems overseas are said to have tipped the balance.
"We believe that it is very important to be able to produce the vaccines domestically," said cabinet chief Katsunobu Kato.
AstraZeneca has confirmed this local production to the Ministry of Health.
JCR Pharmaceuticals with no experience in vaccines
Japanese pharmaceutical companies, including Daiichi Sankyo and JCR Pharmaceuticals, have agreed to participate in the production and distribute it, Kato said.
AstraZeneca has not even formally applied for approval in the country with around 126 million inhabitants.
In other respects, too, the plan could be quite daring: According to the daily newspaper »Nikkei«, JCR Pharmaceuticals has not yet produced any vaccines.
Nevertheless, the company is able to reproduce the required adenoviral vectors itself.
Japan and the British-Swedish company AstraZeneca had only signed a contract for 120 million cans in December, but according to the newspaper the country has been working on creating its own production facilities since the beginning of last year.
Unlike the more sensitive mRNA vaccine from Biontech and Pfizer, the AstraZeneca vaccine can also be stored at normal refrigerator temperatures.
A clinical study with the vaccine has been running in Japan since August.
Nevertheless, due to its previous dependence on deliveries from abroad, the country has fared poorly in an international comparison.
The vaccinations are only supposed to start at the end of February, when the Biontech Pfizer vaccine is expected to be approved.
Delivery problems in Japan in the first quarter as well
A quick remedy is not to be expected from local production either: According to »Nikkei«, it could take until May before the locally produced vaccines can be sold.
The government of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga therefore hopes to receive at least 30 of the 120 million cans by March in order to bridge the time to local production.
That would correspond to a quarter of the contractually guaranteed amount.
The EU also fears that it will only receive around a quarter of the expected amount of the vaccine in the first quarter of 2021.
Brussels had already signed a supply contract with AstaZeneca in the summer and pre-financed production with 336 million euros.
There is a suspicion in Brussels that the company prefers to supply Great Britain.
In view of the tense situation in vaccine production, an increased cooperation between various manufacturers is also emerging in Europe.
The French pharmaceutical company Sanofi plans to produce more than 125 million doses of the vaccine developed by its competitors Biontech and Pfizer from around the summer at its Frankfurt site.
The companies had previously also admitted that they would initially also deliver less vaccine to Europe.
The reason given for the bottleneck was an expansion of the production facilities.
What went wrong with vaccine supply at EU level could now be remedied at national level.
Federal Minister of Health Jens Spahn has shown himself open to a vaccination summit called for by SPD politicians.
On the station NDR Info, the CDU politician proposed a separate meeting with the prime ministers of the federal states, in which representatives of the pharmaceutical manufacturers should also take part.
Icon: The mirror
apr / Reuters / dpa